Australia
by xForeverDazzledx
Summary: Nina's had enough of risking her own life, and the lives of her friends back at Creepy Towers. When she's offered a scholarship at a school in Australia, she takes it with plans to keep her senior year normal and safe. It turns out that she's now going to school with Mick, but he's not the only part of her life in England that she can't seem to escape. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey! So I'm attempting a multi-chapter fanfic again! Just a fair warning, I've only ever finished one. But I really like this one so far. This was my NaNoWriMo story… that I failed… BUT I already have the first seven chapters done. I'm hoping that getting some readers will be good motivation to keep writing. So, on that note, enjoy :)**

"Australia?! The best school you found for me is in Australia?!" I slumped down into the couch in disbelief.

"Nina, you said you wanted to go to a new school," my Gran reminded me, "And it has everything you wanted. You're away from your old school, you're playing a sport to keep your mind off of it, and you have a full scholarship. This was the only school that offered all of that. You should be happy."

"I know, it's just… that's so… far." At that moment my phone vibrated in my pocket. I had a text from Fabian, making me even more sad.

The truth was, I did want to leave Creepy Towers. It was just that the place was not safe for me. At all. I spent Sophomore and Junior year nearly dying, trying to solve some Egyptian mystery, and though I wouldn't go back in time and change anything, I can't risk my life again. And it's not just my life I'm worried about. I almost killed my friends last year. And my Gran. I'm not doing that again. I can't.

But leaving Liverpool meant leaving so much more than just a mystery. I would be leaving my best friends behind. My American friends changed so much in the past two years and though I have been hanging out with them all summer, I feel like we're drifting apart. My true friends are in England.

I already have my cover story ready. My scholarship there actually expired after two years. It would have been really easy to renew for this year, but my friends don't have to know that. If they knew the truth, they would be telling me to come back and that risking their lives is worth having me there, just like they risked their lives for me last year, and the year before. I would probably give in too. But this is better. A clean break that they just have to accept. Now all I have to do is tell them.

"I'm going to go up to my room Gran," I said, getting up, "I need to break the news to my friends. But thank you. Really, I'm happy that you found this place for me."

Gran smiled at me. "I really think you'll like it. The Victoria Academy of Sport is one of the most prestigious international boarding schools in the world. That's what their website said anyway, but it looks really nice. I wouldn't send you to a place you wouldn't like. And you won't feel too pressured with your field hockey scholarship. This is their first year with this kind of team, that's how you were able to get in as a senior. Your lucky you played varsity your freshman year or they might not have given you such a large amount of money. They said they want to ease the team into the school, so I don't think they'll work you too hard. Everything is going to be fine."

"Thank you, Gran."

"Plus I heard the boys are pretty cute on that end of the globe," she told me, winking.

I let out a half hearted laugh as I walked away. I climbed up the stairs to my room, closed the door, and sat crossed legged on my bed. I dropped my phone on my bed and just stared at it for a moment. Fabian's name was still on the screen from when he texted me. I didn't bother reading the message. Water was already welling up in my eyes just thinking about the phone call I was going to make to him. Not only would I have to tell him about my new school, but I would have to talk to him about us.

We had been dating back at school. Like actually dating after so many failed attempts and we managed to keep it going all summer. But I wasn't sure that a long distance relationship was going to work, especially with a distance this big. I was hoping Gran would find me a school in the United Kingdom, or even Europe so I could take a train a visit everyone when I could, but with Australia it's not like I could afford to fly back and forth at my leisure. We were having a hard enough time communicating with the five hour difference this summer. How would this work if I was in Australia? I could only hope he would understand and that I wouldn't hurt him too much.

After a lot of thinking and staring at my phone, I finally got the courage to call him. He picked up the phone after the first ring.

"Nina! Hey, what's up? Did you get my text about the Greek Mythology special that's airing tomorrow?"

"No, I didn't, I -"

"Well I thought we could watch it together. It re airs here the same time it airs where you are so I thought we could video chat or -"

"Fabian? I actually needed to talk to you about something else."

I think he sensed the sadness in my voice because he suddenly sounded concerned, "Oh okay. What is it?"

I took a deep breath. This was it. "Fabian. I'm not coming back to England for school this year." I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for his response.

"You're…not? Why?" His voice was much quieter now.

"Well, um, my scholarship was up," I stopped for a second to wipe the tear that was rolling off my cheek and I sniffled. "And I can't really afford to go there anymore so I found a new school that offered me a full scholarship. But it's in Australia."

"…Australia?" He sounded breathless now, like I knocked all of the wind out of him with my words.

"Yeah." We were both silent for a moment. We both knew what was coming up next but neither of us wanted to start the conversation. I don't know how, or why, but I decided to be the brave one and said, "Fabian, I don't think we can be… together… anymore." I was choking on my words as I spoke.

Fabian seemed a little more frantic now, "But… we can just text everyday. And I'll call you. And we can video chat. We can work through the time difference Nina. Mick and Mara did it."

"Yeah, but look how that worked out for them."

He was silent for a moment. "Nina… I don't want to lose you."

I was going to burst into tears any moment now, but I stayed strong. "Fabian. You know I care about you. So much. But that's why I have to do this. I don't know when I'm going to be able to see you again and I don't know how much longer this long distance thing is going to work. This summer has been hard enough. It's just… easier if we do this."

"Nina. I don't care about the easy way, I care about you."

I was so tempted to just tell him 'Nevermind!" and then we can go on being a happy couple. But that's the thing, we wouldn't be a happy couple. We would be the lovesick couple, the longing couple, trying to make a relationship work when we couldn't even see each other. I knew that this was the best thing to do.

I took a deep breath to gain my composure. "I wish we could make this work, but I just don't think it's possible. We can still be friends. I still want to be your friend. But I don't want to hold you back and put you in more pain than I have to."

I heard him sigh into the phone. "I can't change your mind, can I?"

I shook my head, forgetting for a moment that I was talking on the phone. "I'm sorry, Fabian," I whispered.

"I just want you to know one thing: I love you. And this won't stop that."

"I love you too."

There was silence for a moment before I heard his line click.

I put my phone down, laid on my bed, and started to cry.

I don't know how long I was upstairs but the next thing I knew, it was dark out. Apparently I had fallen asleep. Never did I image myself crying myself to sleep over Fabian. I looked at my phone to see the time. 8 o'clock. I had been asleep for three hours.

I walked down the stairs, my arms crossed across my chest for comfort. I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror located at the bottom. My eyes were still red a puffy. Sleep couldn't hide the fact that I had just been bawling my eyes out. I still felt like crying, but not as bad as before, so it was easier to hold in.

I walked into the kitchen and found Gran at the stove.

"I'm making macaroni and cheese for dinner!" she said. I couldn't help but smile at that. Gran's homemade macaroni is my favorite. I loved how she knew just how to make me feel better. And she didn't press for information either. She knew that if I wanted to talk, I would talk, and at that moment I desperately felt the need to talk to someone.

"I broke up with Fabian," I told her. I tried to sound calm, but my voice cracked at his name.

"Oh, honey…" She immediately stopped what she was doing and came over to me for a hug. I graciously accepted and started sobbing again into her shoulder.

I let go after a minute and wiped my eyes. "I feel terrible about it," I admitted to her, "But I know it wasn't going to work."

"You did the right thing Nina," she said to me, "There will be other guys like Fabian, maybe even better than him. You heard me before, Australia is full of cute guys."

"I'm not just worried about me, I'm worried about Fabian. I feel like I killed him with words." I was still crying at the thought.

"Fabian will find other girls too. Not as wonderful as you of course, but he will be fine. I could tell that Joy girl had a thing for him when I visited you last year. He'll be able to be happy too."

"Joy was always meant to be with him anyway," I said, thinking out loud. I wasn't even sure if it was true. I also wasn't sure if I liked it. But I just had go accept that he would eventually have to have a love life without me, juts like I would have one without him someday.

"C'mon," Gran said, "Why don't you help me start making the cheese sauce. It'll take your mind off of everything."

I just nodded and walked with her to the stove. It was time to stop dwelling on the past and move on.

**A/N: So, what do you think?!**


	2. Chapter 2

On August 28th, I arrived in Australia. It was a week before term began, but the school gave students a week come in and get settled in their dorms. I would be staying in the Alexander Towers, the nicest dorms reserved exclusively for Seniors. Each floor was kind of like a house. There were four dorms, two for girls and two for boys. A bathroom connected them, again, one for boys and one for girls. In the middle of the floor was a living area, just a few couches and a big TV against the back wall. Towards the front of the floor, where you enter, was a small kitchen area consisting of your basic appliances and a square table that didn't look like it would fit all eight of us who would be living here, but I guess we all wouldn't be eating at the same time anyway. To access our floor, there was a little hallway outside the entrance where the stairs and elevator were. You needed a key card to get in.

It was definitely different compared to Anubis House. In just two years that place made me feel at home, even with all of it's creepy passageways and weird histories. My first steps into my new home already made me long for England but I reminded myself why I came here in the first place. Protection. It didn't stop me from missing my friends, though. I missed them, even if being here meant keeping them safe.

I finally built up the strength to call them the day after I called Fabian. Amber came first. She started crying over the phone. So naturally I started crying with her. She told me to enjoy Australia and to say hi to Mick if I happened to see him there, but I really wasn't planning on seeing him there. I humored her though and said I would. She then promised to lead Sibuna now that I was gone which was nice of her, but I was still hoping the mysteries would stop now that I was gone. I promised to keep in touch, maybe even write letters to each other and she liked the idea.

I called Patricia next. She just seemed shocked at first, but she lightened up after a little bit. She promised to dump some water on the new girl who took my place, which made me laugh. I told her to keep Amber and Alfie and out of trouble and she agreed. Alfie was last. He answered the phone in some crazy voice that had me laughing right from the start. Then the serious conversation started, but he still managed to keep me smiling, warning me not to get eaten by Australian zombie kangaroos.

It was hard saying goodbye over the phone, but I was glad I did it. How terrible would it have been if I just didn't show up? Patricia would be running around screaming, "Where's Nina?" I figured they would send the news along to the rest of my housemates. I loved Jerome, Mara, Joy, and Eddie, and I did feel like they were a part of my crazy Anubis family, but I never really got that close to them and felt like the extra phone calls would have just been awkward.

Upon entering by floor for the first time it was easy to tell that I was the last one to arrive out of the eight of us that would be sharing the space. A school representative, Ms. Mumford, was there to help me move in and show me around the school. She was young and very enthusiastic about her job and the school. Oh, and her accent was awesome. I was already loving hearing all of the Australians speaking.

"Welcome to your new home away from home!" she said cheerily when we walked in,"That's your room over there." She pointed to the door on the far left side of the wall and started walking over to it, one of my suitcases rolling behind her. I followed her.

"This is it! Your roommate Vanessa arrived here last week. She's on the girl's football team... or soccer to you I guess... and they start training right away, but you'll meet her soon enough."

I rolled my suitcase over to the empty side of the room and leaned it against my bed and took my other bag out of Ms. Mumford's hand to do the same.

"I like it," I told her. And I was telling the truth. The room was about the same size as my room at Anubis house, just a bit more symmetrical as far as the furniture went. Each side of the room had a bed, a desk with two drawers and some shelves stacking on top of it, a wardrobe, and a dresser. There was a door for the bathroom and another door I later found out was a shared closest space. It seemed like a nice place to live.

"I'm glad," she said smiling, "Now if you shipped any of your other things in boxes, they should be here soon, just check downstairs at the main desk. They'll be in the mailroom. I have your student pack here," she handed me a colorful folder, "Everything you need to know about the school is in there. You can use that tonight to explore a little on your own, but you can come to the new students tour tomorrow at eight that I'll be running. Many of your new teammates will be there too, so it's a good opportunity to get to know everyone."

"Thank you. I'll be there."

"Well, that's all I have to say. Do you have any questions?"

I shook my head.

"Well then, I'll leave you to start unpacking. Your floormates should be here soon. They're all at practice and meetings I'm assuming. Good luck, Nina."

"Thank you Ms. Mumford!"

With that she walked out of the room and clicked the door shut, and I got to unpacking.

I spent about two hours unpacking and organizing everything I had in my suitcases. I shipped two boxes of things over also, so I decided to check downstairs to see if they arrived yet. I had barely walked out of my room when the door to the our floor opened and a familiar blonde boy walked through.

"Mick?!"

He looked up at me, startled. "Nina? What are you doing here?"

"I go here now. I didn't realize this was the school you moved to last year."

"Yeah. I play football in the fall and run track in the spring. I didn't even know you played a sport," he admitted.

"I played field hockey before I moved to England," I explained, "Our old school didn't offer that. My scholarship ended there, and this school offered me a full ride to play for the new field hockey team, so I accepted."

"Oh. Is that all you play then? Just field hockey?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, most students here play two sports. Or more."

"Well, I mean, I guess I could try another sport if I need to."

"You don't have to. It's just not a bad idea, since this is a sport school and all. And our teams are much better than our old school. No offense."

"None taken. You're right, we sucked." We both laughed.

"Well, I'm going to go take a shower. I kind of need it." He gestured to his body, which was sweaty and covered in spots of mud and grass stains.

"Yeah, I'll leave you too that."

He was about to walk away when he turned to me again, "Oh. Maybe I can tell you about the school a little bit tonight. And you can fill me in on what I missed in Liverpool last year, and how, um... everyone... is."

"You mean Mara?" I asked.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Just a guess," I told him, "I understand how you feel."

"Fabian, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, just meet me back here at seven. I've got a meeting for this club I joined last year today, or I'd come sooner."

"No, that's totally fine," I said, "I was going to explore the school a little bit anyways."

"Great. Catch you later then."

He walked into his dorm room, as I walked out the door. I was still kind of in shock that out of all of the boarding schools in Australia, I ended up in the same one as Mick. Not that it was a problem, he was a nice enough guy. It was just ironic. I should have known when Gran said I was going to a sport school. I vaguely remember Mara talking about it at breakfast now, how there was no way Mick would stay in Liverpool when there was an internationally acclaimed sports school in Australia. I would have to call Amber about it later.


	3. Chapter 3

Exploring the school on my own turned out to be a bad idea. The campus was huge. I found myself lost after an hour and barely made it back in time to hang out with Mick. I grabbed a sandwich from the cafeteria near my building before heading upstairs. I didn't bring any food for the kitchen yet and I didn't want to take any from my still-stranger floormates.

I took a seat at the kitchen table and started eating. That's when I realized there was a guy sitting on the couch. I think we noticed each other at the same time, because he turned around and caught my gaze.

"G'day! You must be the new girl. Mick told me about you today." I could tell by his accent that he was Australian. He got up from the couch and took a seat across from me at the table, "I'm Oliver." He stuck out his hand.

I shook it said, "I'm Nina. I'm from America."

He had a firm grip when he shook my hand. I could tell he was an athlete. His arms were toned, and he looked very strong.

"So you play field hockey, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. What about you?"

"I swim," he responded, "Year round sport, but I love it." He smiled at me.

A swimmer. That explained the arms. I'm not going to lie, he was very attractive. He had short black hair, tanned skin, and emerald eyes. He was gorgeous, but the second I started thinking about him in _that _way I began thinking of Fabian. He was no swimmer, but he was handsome in his own way and I started to miss him again.

"Nice to meet you," I said to him.

"So, do you like Australia?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I haven't been here that long, but it seems like a nice place to live."

Before he could respond, the door opened and a girl with insanely curly red hair walked in.

She gasped when she looked over at the table and screamed, "Oliver! We're floormates again! I've missed you!" She ran over to the table. Oliver stood up and they hugged.

The girl didn't seem to notice me until they broke apart. "Oh, hi! Sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm Erin!" She waved at me.

"I'm Nina! Nice to meet you."

"Nice, you're American?"

"Did the accent give it away?"

She laughed, "Just a bit. I'm Irish, if you couldn't tell by all of this." She shook her hair.

The door opened again, and this time Mick walked in.

"Mick!" Erin squealed as she ran to give him a hug, "Have you met the newbie yet?"

"Yeah, actually," he said, pulling away from her, "We went to school together in England. Same house and everything."

"No way! That's crazy!" she turned to me, "Did you come here to see Mick again then?"

"I actually didn't even know he went to school here until he walked in today," I admitted.

"Crazy," she said again.

"Well," Mick said, looking at me, "Why don't I go show you around a bit, and we can talk."

I started to get up and wrap up my untouched sandwich when I noticed Erin grin and glance over at Oliver. Mick must have noticed too because he said to them, "Guys, it's not like that, I swear."

"Yeah," I added, "He just wants to hear about our old school, how things haves changed and what not."

"Okay then," Erin said, laughing after she spoke, clearly not convinced.

"Whatever," Mick said, rolling his eyes. He was smiling though, so I knew he wasn't mad or anything. They were just teasing him I assumed.

He started walking out the door and I followed him.

"Sorry if you wanted to just talk in the dorm," he said, "But if they heard you mention Mara they would have went on this huge rant about how she's a terrible person. I kind of did some venting to them last year."

"No, I understand. I mean, I don't know the whole story, but I do know that one second Mara was with you and the next she was with Jerome."

"Well, that's basically the whole story. No warning. I just walked in on her snogging Jerome. And she didn't even do anything. She just smiled like it was the happiest moment of her life. She didn't even realize I was watching." I could tell he was still pretty upset about it, even after a good nine months to get over it.

"Did you ever get to talk about it?" I questioned.

He nodded, "Yeah. We did. My last day in England I decided to confront her. She had basically been avoiding me all week. Or she was hanging around Jerome so much that she completely forgot my existence, I'm not really sure. But I confronted her. I asked her what was going on with Jerome. I asked her what was going to happen to us. I already knew what she was going to say, but technically we were still together so I at least wanted a proper breakup or closure or something."

"Understandable."

"Well, she apologized to me. A lot. She told me she never wanted to cheat on me or anything and she never meant to fall for Jerome. She said it 'just happened.'" he used air quotes and sighed, "Then she told me she was actually about to break up with me anyway, over the computer, when I walked in to surprise her. But she stopped herself when she saw me. She thought maybe things would get better if we were together in person again. Obviously they didn't, so naturally she went to Jerome. I just wished she would have held off long enough to dump me. That would have been better than just losing her with no warning." He crossed his arms in defeat.

"I'm sorry," I said. That's all I really could say.

"It's fine, I've gotten over it. Kind of." He sighed again. "The fact that we don't keep in contact anymore helps."

"Seriously? Nothing at all? Not even a comment on Chum Chatter or something."

He shook his head. That made me worry about me and Fabian. I hadn't talked to him since we broke up. I never meant to lose him as a friend and I started to fear we would end up like Mick and Mara.

Either Mick read my mind or he was eager to change the subject because he said, "So you and Fabian, still together?"

I was silent.

"I'll take that as a no," he assumed, "Sorry."

"It's fine. I broke up with him anyway," I admitted.

He looked shocked. "Why? I thought you guys were like soul mates or something."

I took a deep breath to clear my thoughts. I was starting to feel the tears come along, but I was done crying over this. "I broke up with him because of the distance. Me being in America was hard enough for us this summer, I didn't even want to know how terrible it was going to be if I was in Australia. Plus I saw how you and Mara turned out and I didn't want that to happen to us."

"Afraid he would be snatched up by Joy?" he questioned.

"I actually hadn't thought about that," I told him, "But yeah, you're right. I guess they were always meant to be together anyway. She really liked him."

"Yeah, but he really liked you."

"I know," I said, "I really liked him too. And that's why this is so hard." I sniffled. _Please don't cry_ I thought.

"I know how you feel. We can just stick together though this. Two broken hearted blokes from Liverpool." He smiled at me and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Sounds good to me," I replied, "If you ever need to talk, just let me know."

"Same for you." He pointed over at a large building to our right. "By the way, that's the library. I might as well show you around a bit while we're out here."

I followed his finger. "Very nice. No creepy Egyptian secrets in there, right?" I joked.

"What?"

Whoops. I had completely forgotten that he didn't know anything about Sibuna. Mara and he were the only ones that never got in on it. They were lucky. I managed to cover for myself, thankfully. "Like... the ones in the exhibition."

He seemed to buy it. "Oh, yeah. Nothing like that. This place is actually pretty new, only a few years old."

"Good."

"So any stories than?" he asked me, "Anything about Creepy Towers I need to know?"

I shook my head, "Not really. We all kind of just hung out and finished up the school year. They had another prom that we all went too. We were all paired off by then. Me and Fabian, Amber and Alfie, Jerome and Mara, Patricia and Eddie. Joy had a friend from Isis house who took her."

"Wait, who's Eddie?" he asked.

"The new guy that came from America after you left. You guys didn't meet?"

He looked puzzled for a second, but then something seemed to click. "Right, that guy. I think Patricia introduced us at the party after the exhibition closed, but we only talked for a little bit. He seemed cool. I just forgot his name."

"He is," I told him, "I started hanging out with him a lot towards the end of the year. When he wasn't busy with Patricia anyway. They got pretty serious." I left out the part about Eddie being the Osiron, but that was another story to tell, one that I didn't really expect to ever tell Mick. That's why we started talking a lot though. As chosen one, I felt like I needed to fill him in on all things Sibuna when I could. Fabian and Patricia got a little jealous, especially since we now had this uncontrollable bond between us, but our relationship was strictly a friendship. We both cared to much about our partners to let some Egyptian magic get in the way of our love lives.

"Did Jerome and Mara get serious too?" he asked, though he seemed afraid to know the answer.

I felt terrible about it, but I had to tell him the truth, "Yeah. From what I saw anyways. I was never all that close with them, so I never knew details or anything." The thing was, you didn't need details to know they were in love. The way I see it was that Mick and Mara had kind of a puppy love for each other, at least from my point of view. They definitely had a strong bond, the kind that any first love would create, but there was something about Jerome and Mara's relationship that seemed more intense. You could see it in their eyes when they looked at each other. Sometimes I felt like they would forget there were other people in the room.

All he said was, "Oh," and then he looked down and kicked a pebble.

I don't know why, but I stopped walking and leaned over and gave him a hug. We weren't super close or anything, but I felt like we had definitely had an important moment in our friendship that night. Plus he just seemed so sad, and it was all I had left to give.

He graciously accepted.

"I needed that," he told me after we broke apart.

"No problem," I said smiling.

"So... is there anything else you want to see or do you just want to go back home?" he asked.

"I'm getting a full tour tomorrow from Ms. Mumford. Let's just go home," I replied. "Wow. I'm already calling this place home."

"Don't worry, you're going to love it here," he promised, "Sometimes I like it even more than Anubis. I still miss that old house though."

"Yeah," I said, "I'll miss it too."

**A/N: Hope everyone is enjoying having new updates everyday :D Although this one is kind of late… shhh…. I'll try to keep it going everyday as long as I can, it will probably be this way for at least a week. But anyway, let me know what you think so far!**


	4. Chapter 4

That night all of my floormates were finally in at the same time. There was Oliver, the super attractive (though I tried not to admit it) swimmer from Australia. He roomed with Jayant who preferred to be called Jay. He came from India and played tennis and baseball. Then there was Mick and his roommate Dom. He was from South Africa and he played soccer and ran track, just like Mick. For the girls, there was Erin, the girl I had already met, who was from Ireland. She played softball and cricket, a sport I never had even heard of until she told me about it. Jaqueline roomed with Erin and came from Canada. Like me, she was offered a scholarship to play field hockey and this was her first and last year at the Victoria Academy of Sport. We got along right away and I could tell we were going to be really close this year. Lastly there was Vanessa. It turns out that her and Oliver were twins, which explained why she looked like the girl version of him. She played football and swam. Everyone offered good first impressions and I could tell I would be happy living here.

The tour I went on was fine. I finally felt like I could find my way around campus on my own if I had to. It was mostly freshman, but the entire field hockey team was on the tour too. All of us were new students, which was comforting. It was nice to know that there were people who would understand the hardships of going to a new school.

After the tour, we all headed over to our first field hockey team meeting. It turns out that each sport had its own club house for meetings and what not. Ours was located right next to our field and everything was brand new. We actually had to use our room keys to gain access in. Only field hockey members were allowed. It was basically a larger common room with locker rooms in the back, but it was really nice. Our coach, Mrs. Peterson, told us that we were allowed in here whenever we wanted. We could do homework, workout in our private gym that was apparently up stairs, shower, whatever we wanted. It was like having a second dorm.

The team meeting lasted for about an hour. We all introduced ourselves and told everyone how much experience we had. The younger students seemed to have played more than the older ones, probably because it was hard to find older students to leave their old schools to come here. There were actually only three of us in year 12. It was only me, Jacqueline, and this girl Maria who was actually living in the floor below us. We all were recruited to team captains by default.

Just as the meeting was ending, and everyone was leaving, Mrs. Peterson stopped me.

"Oh, Nina. Would you be able to do me a favor?"

"Sure," I replied, "What is is?"

"Our practice uniforms still haven't arrived," she explained, "But there are some old basketball jerseys in storage that I though we could use. Would you be able to find them for me? Their in the cellar under the Alexander Towers, and I figured since that was your dorm it wouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah, I can do that! Can I bring Jacqueline to help me?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I would, but I'm really not supposed to let students down there. I'd go down myself, but I also coach the golf team and their meeting is now. I just don't have time. It will be better if you go alone."

"It's fine. So are they just in a box, or...?"

"Yes, just a cardboard box. It says "basketball 1977" on the flap. I already checked them out so I know they are usable. Here's the key." She dropped it into my hand. It was a real key though, not a key card like everything else in the school seemed to run on. "You can just bring the box back here when you get the chance. Thank you Nina!" She quickly walked away, clearly in a hurry.

"No problem!" I called, but she was already gone.

I shrugged and started making my way back to the dorms.

I didn't even bother going to my room. I just headed straight for the cellar. The door to it was located in the stairwell. I remembered noticing it yesterday. I wasn't completely sure if it led to the cellar, but the door was locked, it had a key hole, and it read "Authorized Personnel Only."

I stuck the key I had in the lock and turned it. It turned out I was right. The door opened to a staircase that descended into darkness. I found a light switch on the wall and flipped it before closing the door behind me.

I was walking down the steps when suddenly I heard something making noise. I got to the bottom step and froze, unsure if it was just an animal or a person. Either way, it was making me nervous.

"Hello?" I reluctantly called out.

Suddenly a figure popped out from behind an old washing machine. It was Mick.

"On, Nina. It's just you. I thought it was a teacher or something. He stepped out from behind the machine and into the open.

"Nope," I reassured, "Just me. What are you doing down here anyway?"

"I do my laundry down here." He shrugged. "Dad gives me a weekly allowance for food and laundry and such and I get to keep whatever I don't use. Laundry is two dollars a load and I'm trying to save up for some new football cleats. The machines down here are old, but there free, so I sneak down to use them."

"Smart thinking," I complimented, "But how do you even get down here?"

"I pick the lock," he admitted, "It's not that hard and I haven't been caught yet. What about you? What are you doing down here?"

"My coach asked me to pick up some old uniforms to use as practice wear," I explained, "She gave me the key. I may have to start picking the lock and doing laundry down here though." I smirked at him.

"Well, I'm still waiting for my load to finish... need help finding what you're looking for?" he asked.

"That would be great actually. It's just a cardboard box that says "basketball 1977."

Finding the box turned out to be quite the challenge. The place was a mess. Years and years worth of storage just scattered all over the place and stacked on top of each other. No wonder Mrs. Peterson asked me to come down here instead of doing it herself. Finding anything was impossible.

"I thought this building was new," I said aloud, "Why is there so much... old stuff down here?"

"Well, the building's new," Mick answered, "But the basement's not. It used to be a part of an old equipment warehouse. Like really old, older than Anubis maybe. At least that's what I've been told. I was never here to see it. But apparently students would sneak in a lot to do who knows what, and the building was getting so old it was dangerous. So they knocked it down and built the Tower. They kept the cellar though, I'm not sure why."

"Interesting."

After a good ten minutes of searching, Mick finally found what we were looking for.

"Hey, I think it's this box over here," he yelled to me. He was near the wall opposite the stairs. I walked over to him to check it out.

"Yeah, that's definitely it," I said after reading the flap. It said "basketball 1977" just as I had been promised. I started to lift it up when Mick stopped me.

"Hey, don't do that. Let me pick it up, it's probably heavy."

"Oh," I said, a bit startled, "Thanks." I felt pretty capable enough to carry it myself, but Mick was stronger than me. There was no reason for me to decline his offer.

Mick picked up the box, but when he did, he knocked over an old broom with his elbow that knocked over a large painting hanging on the wall.

"Whoops," he said, but at that point I was barely paying attention to him. I was staring at the wall, right where the picture came down. There was art drawn directly on the wall, but it wasn't just any art. It was Egyptian art.

It was a drawing of a man standing in a boat that resembled a canoe. He was decked out in jewelry, leading me to believe that he was wealthy and probably high class. What really caught my attention though was the symbol floating above his head. It was the Eye of Horus, the full symbol, not just the eye part that I was used to seeing on Sibuna missions. It suddenly started glowing blue.

"Nina," Mick said to me, "Your necklace."

"What?" I looked down. I was wearing my Eye of Horus necklace. I had gotten into the habit of wearing it everyday despite not being in England anymore. It just didn't feel right, plus I felt like it helped me and protected me. It was glowing blue, just like the symbol on the wall.

"Oh my god," I said out loud, but in a whispered tone because I was in shock. The necklace didn't have any connection to this place. Why was it glowing? Why was there Egyptian art in Australia? All of these questions were swirling in my head, and I started to fear what the future might hold for me. That didn't stop me from putting my necklace up against the wall though. I've always been too curious for my own good.

When the two eyes met, the part of the wall with the painting suddenly moved back and then slid down revealing a tunnel.

Mick's jaw dropped. "What the...?"

I shook my head in disbelief. _No,_ I thought, _not here_. _I thought I left this curse in Liverpool._


	5. Chapter 5

Mick and I stood gaping at the tunnel for a moment until he finally managed to find the words to speak to me.

"How did you do that?" he questioned.

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head and figure out what to say. At this point there was no use keeping secrets from him. He saw the necklace. He saw what it can do. He deserved to know the truth.

"It's kind of a long story..." I started.

"I'll make as much time as you need to hear this," he told me.

"Why don't we go grab lunch off campus and I'll tell you everything then? I don't think staying down here is a good idea."

He looked around the cluttered room. "Yeah, you're probably right. But how are we going to cover up... all of this?" He waved his hand over the tunnel.

"Um..." I look at the tunnel. The Eye of Horus wasn't included in the panel that slid away. I pressed my necklace up against it, and the wall slid back into place. "Like that."

He just looked at me in disbelief, "I'm definitely dreaming right now."

I sighed. "Unfortunately not. Come on, we should go." I placed the picture back over the wall and Mick grabbed the box of jerseys.

"Thanks," I told him.

"No problem. I feel like I'm going to owe you after you tell me what is going on."

We headed upstairs, first dropping off the box of jerseys into my room and then heading into town. We stopped in a deli/cafe kind of place, ordered some sandwiches to eat, and found a table at the back of the the restaurant, secluded in a corner. The place was rather busy, and filled with the sounds of chattering and customers and busy sandwich makers so I was not too worried about being overheard.

" Alright," Mick said, "What the bloody hell is going on?"

"Believe it or not, this all started back at Creepy Towers," I started.

"Go on."

"Remember when I saved that women who left her nursing home and somehow ended up in front of Anubis house?"

He nodded. "Yeah, back in year 10."

"Well, she's the one who gave me this necklace. She's also the one who told me about the secrets in Anubis house. Kind of, anyway. We had to do a lot of research on our own."

"Wait, we?"

"Fabian, Amber, Patricia, and Alfie ended up helping me. Well, it started with just me and Fabian, then Amber kind of joined in, then somehow Patricia and Alfie got involved, but that's a lot of back story. They were all there and they helped."

Mick smirked. "That explains how you and Fabian got so close." My face must have looked pained at the sound of his name. "Sorry. I used tease him about you back then, that's all. It brought back good memories."

"No, it's fine," I told him, "I'm over it. Really."

"Whatever you say." He didn't seem convinced, but he kept going anyway. "So Amber helped you too?"

I nodded.

"Maybe that's why she was suddenly uninterested in me..." He trailed off, seeming to get lost in his thoughts.

"I guess so," I admitted, "I'm really sorry about that."

"No it's fine. It was for the best anyway. I moved on." He half smiled. He didn't say it, but I had a feeling he was thinking about Mara, probably the only good thing that came out of his breakup with Amber.

I kept going. "Well, it turns out that the old owner of the house had hidden all of these puzzle pieces all over the house. If you found them all and put them together, it created this goblet called the Cup of Ankh. If you drank a special elixir from it, it gave you eternal life."

"This doesn't even sound real."

"I know it doesn't. But it is. This necklace opened up a lot of secret passageways in the house that led to the puzzle pieces. That's what gave me the idea to put it to the wall in our cellar."

"So wait, does this mean you have eternal life? Did you find all the pieces?"

I shook my head. "I definitely don't have eternal life, and neither do any of our friends. We found the cup so we can hide it from Victor and this guy Rufus. We didn't know what they wanted with it, but we figured it couldn't be good, so we made sure no one was able to get it."

"So you guys were doing this for two years and I had no idea?"

"Well, that all happened in tenth grade. Eleventh was even crazier. We were all cursed by this evil spirit Senkhara. She threatened to kill is if we didn't find her the Mask of Anubis. We spent the entire first semester finding our way through secret tunnels down below the school. We found the mask, but we stopped Senkhara from using it. She was evil too."

"Well I'd think anyone threatening your life would be evil," he pointed out.

"Touché."

We ended up sitting in that cafe for two hours. Mick was very curious, and he asked a lot of questions. I answered all of them and told him the stories of the may adventures of Sibuna. I wasn't expecting his final question though.

"Well, what do you say? Can we go explore that tunnel in the cellar? We can make our own Australian mystery solving group."

Okay, maybe I did expect it. I couldn't blame him for being curious, but he had to understand how dangerous it was trying to solve these mysteries.

"I don't know Mick. I know it sounds like some crazy fun adventure when I tell you the stories, but it's not always like that. There are times when you're terrified. There are times when your trapped, or cursed, or about to lose your life," I explained. "I'll be honest with you, my scholarship isn't the only reason I left England. I probably could have gotten it renewed easily. I left because I was tired of putting my friends in danger and I just didn't think Anubis house was safe for me anymore. I don't want to put you in danger now too."

"Nina, I just want to see what's inside and explore. Nothing else. No mystery solving, just appeasing my curiosity."

I sighed. "That's how it always starts. Curiosity."

"How do you even know it's going to be bad?" he asked me, "What if it's just like, a shortcut across campus or something?"

"I mean, I don't know for sure," I admitted, "but usually when my necklace is involved it means something serious. There's something down there."

"Please Nina?" he begged, "I can tell you want to go down there."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I should," I reminded him.

"Please?" he clasped his hands under his chin and jutted his lip out. He looked kind of adorable. And hard to say no to.

"Ugh, fine. We can go."

"Yes!" he pumped his fist. "Why don't we go tonight at eleven. That gives us an hour before curfew."

"Alright."

"Just make sure to bring the key. If we get caught, just say we were looking for the jerseys. Technically you were given permission to be down there."

"I know, it's just-"

"Nina."

I stopped what I was saying so I could listen to him.

"You just told me a thousand stories about how you got away with sneaking around last year. And on _Victor's _watch for that matter. Security isn't nearly as strict here. Just don't worry about it. You know it'll be worth it once we figure out what's down there."

"Yeah, I guess,"

"Good. So we'll head down tonight at eleven. I'll knock on your door three times so you know its me. Just tell Vanessa we're getting food or something.

I nodded. "Okay. Just... one thing. Are you sure you want to do this? Quitting once you get started is hard, trust me, I've tried."

"I'm completely okay with it."

'Good," I said, "Now I'm not obliged if something happens to you!" I smiled at him, trying to lighten the mood and make myself forget what I was getting him into.

"Very funny," he scoffed, but he was still grinning.

At that point we decided it was time that we go. We cleaned up our trash and headed outside, back to the dorms. On the way home, he thanked me again, for letting him be a part of the mystery even though it was against my better judgement. All I could do was say, "No problem!" and pray that something wouldn't go wrong tonight. But it was too late. I had already said yes to him, and I knew changing my mind would kill him. Cursed or not, Mick and I would be exploring this tunnel.


	6. Chapter 6

At eleven o'clock sharp, I heard three knocks on my dorm room's door. Vanessa had already gone to bed and thankfully she wasn't awoken by the noise, so I was able to slip away without giving her an explanation.

I checked my pocket to make sure I still had the key and grabbed my flashlight before opening the door.

"Oh, good," he said when I walked out, "You have a torch."

"What? Oh. Flashlight. Right, yeah. I figured it might be dark down there."

"Let's go down."

We walked down the stairs trying to be as silent as possible. There was no reason for us to get in trouble if someone did hear us, curfew here wasn't until midnight, but it was better if no one knew where we were going.

When we reached the first floor, we suddenly heard footsteps in the stairwell.

"Quick," I whispered anxiously, "We've got to open the door before someone sees us."

We scurried over to the door and I pulled the key out of my pocket. Of course this time the key decided it wanted to get jammed in the lock. I fumbled with it while Mick kept watch. The footsteps were getting louder.

Finally the key slipped in and I opened the door.

"Got it!"

Mick turned to me and we started to walk in.

"Got what?"

Mick and I froze. It turned around slowly. It was Jacqueline.

"Jacqueline, you scared me!"

She laughed. "Sorry! But seriously, what are you guys doing?"

"I'm helping her get the field hockey jerseys," Mick quickly said. I nodded in agreement.

"But I thought I saw the box of them upstairs? And didn't coach tell you to go alone?"

"Well, um, yeah but... there are two boxes. But I couldn't find the second so I asked Mick to help. Plus they're kind of heavy. I figured Mrs. Peterson would understand."

Mick nodded. "What she said."

Jacqueline didn't seem convinced. "Okay then. I guess I'll see you guys at curfew then."

"See ya!"

"Bye!"

She walked away and I sighed in relief.

"She definitely didn't buy that," Mick said.

"I know, but it's too late now. Let's just go."

We hurried down the stairs, carefully shutting the door behind us. We heading straight for the back wall. Mick picked up the picture hanging on the wall and carefully placed it against an old desk. I pulled my necklace out of my shirt and reached up to press it against the Eye of Horus on the wall. The panel moved again revealing the tunnel, just like earlier today.

Mick just stared. "I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that."

"You will eventually. C'mon." I pulled myself into the tunnel, which was somewhat difficult because it was elevated off the ground, but I managed to get in. I started crawling forward and heard Mick hop in behind me. He was taller than me and didn't have as much difficulty as I did.

He grabbed my foot and said, "Hey, wait up."

I flinched at the touch and looked back at him. "You're fine, I'm waiting. I was just giving you room. I didn't want you crawling on top of me."

"Right, sorry."

I started moving forward again and he followed. The tunnel was dark and made of some sort of rock, just like the walls of the cellar. I switched on my flashlight, which was awkward to hold and crawl with at the same time, but it was too dark to go without it. The floor seemed to slope slightly downward and the ceiling got taller as we went on. We had been crawling for about a minute when Mick grabbed my foot again to stop me.

"I think the ceiling's high enough that we can walk now." He stood up to prove his point, brushing his knees off.

I stood up too, and we kept walking.

"How long do you think this thing is?" he asked.

"I have no idea."

"I guess there's only one way to find out."

We kept walking.

Eventually, we started seeing light up ahead. I switched my flashlight off. It was bright enough now that we didn't need it. When we got to the source of light, I realized it was coming from the ceiling. Little openings had been carved into the ceiling allowing moonlight to flood in. I could even make out some stars.

"I wonder where we are right now," I said, thinking out loud.

"Wait, Nina. Do you see this?" Mick pointed to the wall.

It was another Egyptian painting and this time it included hieroglyphs. I had been so preoccupied with the ceiling that I hadn't even noticed the wall.

"Whoa..." The picture seemed to be of the same person as the one in the cellar. It was definitely a pharaoh, but this time he was sitting in a throne speaking to someone who was lower in class. There were groups of hieroglyphs underneath the painting. They just seemed like a bunch of smaller images until I really focusing on them. _Hatshepsut._ The word formed in my mind.

"What?" Mick looked at me, confused. Apparently I had spoken the word out loud.

"Hatshepsut," I said again. slower this time, "I think... I think that's what the hieroglyphs say."

"Are you trying to tell me you can read hieroglyphs?" You could hear the disbelief in his voice.

"I-I don't know. I don't think so. I've never been able to read them before. But the word just came to me." I was beginning to get a little freaked out myself.

"What did you even say. Sheep hat something...?"

"Hatshepsut," I said again, "Why does that sound so familiar."

Mick just shrugged his shoulders.

"Hatshepsut." Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. "The first female pharaoh in ancient Egypt!"

Mick was still confused. "What?"

"Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh! She was supposedly the best female one, too."

"Is that's who's in the picture?" he asked, "Because that does not look like a babe to me..."

"She disguised herself as a man for most of her reign," I explained, "She wanted to make sure people took her seriously."

"I guess that makes sense..."

"So this picture must be her... but who's the other person she's talking to?"

"Maybe if we keep walking, we'll find more pictures," Mick suggested.

"Good idea."

We walked about ten feet and lone behold, there was another picture. I looked about the same as the last one, but this time Hatshepsut was handing the other person a box. There were hieroglyphs under this one too, more than the last one. I focused on the tiny pictures and again, I was somehow able to make sense of them.

"Hatshepsut gave her bravest sailor five powerful items from the gods," I read, "The Cup of Ankh, The Mask of Anubis, The Eye of Horus Necklace, The Pendant of Osiris, and Crown of Ra. She told him to hide these items all over the world."

"How are you doing that?!" Mick questioned incredulously.

"I honestly have no idea. I'm just as confused as you." He still looked liked he was desperate for answers. "Let's just not think about that now and use this to our advantage. I bet if we keep going we'll get some information on what this tunnel is for, or at least who drew all the pictures."

He nodded. "You're right. Let's just keep going."

It ended up taking twenty minutes to get through the tunnel. Every few paces we would stop for a new picture on the wall and I would spend a moment deciphering it and reciting it to Mick. The pictures told a story.

In Ancient Egypt, a powerful pharaoh, Hatshepsut, ruled. Not only was she powerful, but she also managed to help the civilization immensely, more than most pharaohs. This especially pleased the gods. As a reward, they presented her with five gifts offering immense powers such as eternal life and the ability to become a god. Hatshepsut was flattered, but refused to accept this gifts because she did not feel worthy of such god-like honors. She still felt human.

Most of the gods were understanding of her decision and were happy to know that she respected the fact that she was human, unlike many humans who were disrespectful and doubted the gods abilities, or tried to become as powerful as the gods on their own. One god however, was outraged that someone would turn down such an honor as living forever and becoming a god. He sought revenge. (Unfortunately the tunnel never revealed who 'he' was. Or I couldn't read it if anything.)

To prevent such powerful items from falling into the wrong hands, Hatshepsut sent her strongest sailor to hide them in special places all around the world where they would eventually be destroyed.

This sailor found four more strong sailors to help him. They divided the five items of power amongst themselves, gathered up their crews, and traveled to various parts of the world to hide the items, just as the Queen had requested. The head sailor took off with The Pendant of Osiris and headed south for a large land mass he had heard of before.

The evil god got his revenge when the sailors set out for sea. Out in the ocean, he made the sailors trip miserable. He brought great storms, powerful winds, and strong currents. On the way over, the head sailor was killed leaving three dedicated crew members with no clue on how to destroy the pendant for their queen. They have hidden it until someone who can destroy it can find it. Until then, the evil god will continue to wreck havoc on the descendants of Hatshepsut and those who try to help her until the items of power are completely destroyed, or used by someone.

The tunnel stopped at a dead end.

"Nina," Mick questioned, "Do you think that story is real?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," I admitted.

"Then I think we should find that pendant. And destroy it."

"Mick! Did you even listen to what I said? Anyone who tries to help Hatshepsut will be cursed by that evil god. You heard my story, I've already had my fair share of ancient Egyptian curses cast on me, thanks."

"But Nina, I think you have to," he said.

"I don't _have_ to do anything. And neither do you. I'm serious. If this story is real - which I'm pretty sure it is - you do not want to get involved. The consequences won't be worth it."

"But Nina, didn't they mention your necklace? And that cup you found? And the mask? I think you might be linked to this weather you like it or not."

I didn't say anything. because I suddenly realized he was right. I had been in contact with three out of the five items given to Hatshepsut, according to the wall. And suddenly I could read hieroglyphs, enough to find out that another item was somewhere near here.

Mick was right. I was the chosen one in more ways than I ever imagined.

**A/N: Happy New Year everyone! Make my 2013 even better and leave a review?**


	7. Chapter 7

Mick and I ended up leaving the tunnels after making the realization that I may have another mystery to solve. I was still wrapping my brain around it as we climbed back into the cellar and closed up the passageway. I travel all this way to _avoid_ this curse and end up walking right into it. Maybe I was just fated to follow the five items. I already saved two of them, plus the one around my neck which apparently had more power to it than I was initially aware of. I just didn't know what it was. And now I had to find some pendent.

"So, when do we start searching?" Mick asked me after hanging the picture on the wall to cover the passage.

"Mick, I really don't think you should help." I didn't know how many more times I would have to tell him before he finally understood.

"I'm not asking for your permission."

I sighed. "Please just stay out of this. Please.

"I'm not letting you do this alone. You had help during your last two... missions, or whatever. If it's as dangerous as you keep telling me, it will be worse if you do it alone. Besides, I want to help. If anything goes wrong, it will be all on me."

"That wouldn't keep me from feeling guilty about it," I pointed out.

"Just please let me help." He put on that puppy dog face that he did before to get me to take him to the tunnel in the first place.

"Fine. Fine, you're in. Welcome to Sibuna." I put my hand over my eye.

"Sibuna?"

"Oh, right, I didn't tell you about that. Sibuna is what we called ourselves when we're solving the mysteries. It's Anubis spelled backwards," I explained, "Amber made it up."

"Oh. Sibuna." He mimicked my hand motion.

"We usually initiate new members, but you don't have to go through that. It's only us anyway."

"What's the initiation?"

"You have to burn something important to you as a sacrifice."

"Wow. That's legit. I think I'll pass if you don't mind..."

I laughed. "Yeah, it's fine. We're like the Australia chapter of Sibuna anyway. We can make our own rules."

"Australian Sibunas. I like that." He grinned. "So that means your not telling everyone in England then."

"I barely wanted you to help me," I reminded him, "Do you really think I'd want them involved? I don't think they'd be much help anyways."

"Good point." He looked down at his watch. "It's a quarter until midnight. We better get going."

I nodded, "Let's go."

We quietly headed up the stairs, quietly shutting the door behind us and locking it. We took the elevator up to our floor to avoid running into anyone on the stairs. We were successful until we opened the door to our living area and Jacqueline was sitting on the couch

"There you are," she said as soon as the door opened, "What took so long?"

"Well, uh...we couldn't find the other box," I lied.

"Yeah, we looked all over. I guess there's only one after all," Mick added.

"Likely story," she laughed, "It's obvious why you guys were down there."

I eyed Mick nervously, wondering what she knew.

"I have to say, I respect you guys for getting a room and all but seriously, the basement? You couldn't find a more romantic place than that?"

Mick looked like he was about to start cracking up so I discreetly stepped on his foot to make him stop. I was laughing too though, on the inside. This was just like my first year in England, when Fabian and I had been sneaking around to explore the attic, before we knew what we were even looking for. Amber had jumped to the same conclusion, that we were together and going on secret dates. Though Jacqueline seemed to think we were having a make out session or something. If that's what she thought then that would have to be our cover up story.

"It was the best place we had," I told her. Mick just shrugged like it wasn't his fault.

"Try the field hockey club house next time," she suggested, "Brand new and no one would be in there at this time anyway. And I could come get you still if you don't come back before curfew. That's why I waited up. I figured you guys might lose track of time if you got too... caught in the moment." She giggled.

"We'll have to try that next time," I agreed, "But um, I'm gonna go to bed so... night guys." I waved to them both.

"Wait! You guys can say goodnight to each other, I'll leave, look." She got up and walked over to her dorm room. "You two have fun now," she teased before walking in and shutting the door.

"That was awkward," Mick whispered so Jacqueline wouldn't hear.

"I know, sorry. But if thats what she wants to believe, let her believe it. I don't think she would rat us out if she new the truth but if she knows she might-" Mick cut me off.

"Try to help us, and your too worried about protecting her to let her. We've been over this about five million times." He smirked at me.

I fake hit him. "Ha ha, very funny. But you know I'm right."

"I guess," he said, "But now we have to fake date."

"Not necessarily. We could always pretend we're just friends with benefits or something." I laughed.

"No. I'm way more respectable than that."

"I'm just saying, it would be easier to pull off."

"No," he shook his head, "If were going to be fake anything then we're fake dating."

"Alright then. Goodnight honey," I teased.

He just laughed at me. "I'll see you in the morning Nina."

I went to sleep that night thinking about Mick and all the things we would have to do now to be fake dating. Would Jacqueline settle for a secret relationship like Amber did, or would we have to be Chum Chatter official? Fabian would be crushed. It would probably work in Mick's favor though, I'm sure Mara couldn't help but be a little jealous about it.

I was glad that I had gotten know Mick over the the last couple days. He was quickly becoming my best friend here, despite us rarely talking back at Creepy Towers. It's funny how things change. I was confident that he would be a good partner in crime though and as much as I cautioned him about it, I was actually pretty excited about my next adventure. I was thinking about where we would begin when I fell asleep. My dream explained everything. Or at least I think it was a dream.

Hatshepsut came to visit me. Her ghost did anyway, the same way that Sarah and Senkhara used to.

"Wake up chosen one," I heard her say. The next thing I knew, I saw her standing at the foot of my bed. I gasped, but calmed down after a moment. This wasn't the first time I had seen a ghost.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt," she told me, "And you, Nina Martin, are one of my descendants."

"I'm... what?"

"You come from a long line of power that you never even knew of Nina," she explained, "In this day I have thousands of people from my bloodline but only one person in a generation can become the chosen one. I chose you."

"But... how?" I asked. I was sort of in a daze, my mind puzzling over the words she said to me. I was a descendent of an egyptian queen. It didn't make sense. I didn't even know I was Egyptian.

"I can tell you have many questions Chosen One. I chose you because of your fate. You're my first descendent to be fated to be near all five of my godly pieces. You are the only one who can protect them. And you've already done so well."

"What do I have to do now?"

"Protect the next godly item, of course. The Pendant of Osiris is near, but so is evil. An old enemy of mine will try to stop you. He has envied me since I received the items in the first place. He has chosen his own descendants to find the pendant and use the powers he never got to use. The pendant can turn humans into gods, but he is evil and his descendants will be no better. You must find the pendant and stop them, like you have done so well with my mask, my cup, and my necklace."

"But where is the pendant? And why are you coming to me now? Where were you when I needed help in England?"

"I cannot reveal the location of the pendant, for fear that my enemies may hear and retrieve it before you do. but as for your second question, I have chosen to reveal myself to you now because you have just turned seventeen. This is the age where your power comes to you, and I will be here to guide you through it."

"I... I have powers?"

"Yes Nina. You have the blood of a pharaoh and all of the powers that come with it. You've already been using it to harness some of the potential in the Eye of Horus, but that necklace has much more power than you even know of. And more recently, you're suddenly fluent in the language of the pharaohs aren't you?"

I gasped. "The hieroglyphs," I said to myself, thinking out loud.

"That's right," she said, "And your ability to read them will only grow more prominent with age. Soon you'll be able to write them too."

"This is crazy," I said to her.

"Life is crazy, but you need to embrace it Nina. You have a large responsibility now. One wrong move and someone will be gaining power who does not deserve it. The gods have more than just the ability to change Egypt. They can change the world."

"But how?" I asked, "And why do they want to?"

"Hush Chosen One, my time with you is over. I will be back soon, but for now, start searching."

"I don't even know where to start!" I cried, "You can't just leave me alone!"

"I apologize, but it must be like this. I can give you a hint though. You have already gone to the right place to begin this quest. Just keep searching."

"Searching where?!"

But she just ignored me. Her figure grew smaller as she floated into space.

"Good bye Chosen One." And she was gone.

**A/N That was the last pre-written chapter I had, so updates are going to be a little less frequent now. Just bare with me.**

**By the way, what did you all think of season 3 ****yesterday? I love it already!**


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